LANDS CS NGILU STEPS ASIDE IN LINE WITH PRESIDENT’S ORDER

LANDS CS NGILU STEPS ASIDE IN LINE WITH PRESIDENT’S ORDER

Charity Ngilu has stepped aside as the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Housing and Urban Development following the directive by the President Uhuru Kenyatta during Thursday’s State of the Nation address.

A statement from Presidential Strategic Communication Unit said the CS is stepping aside for 60 days to pave way for an independent investigation into allegation of corruption that was contained in a list that was forwarded to President Kenyatta by Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has instructed Information, Communication and Technology Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to act in her place.

Ngilu joins her colleagues Felix Koskei (Agriculture CS), Michael Kamau (Infrastructure and Transport CS), Davis Chirchir (Energy and Petroleum CS) and Kazungu Kambi (Labour, Social Security and Services CS) who had step aside after they were implicated in the confidential report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission investigating graft had also complied with the President’s directive.

President Kenyatta on Thursday afternoon took the ‘bull of corruption’ by the horns and directed all government officials mentioned in a confidential report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to step aside pending investigations.

President Kenyatta said in his State of the Nation address that he expected officials of county governments and the Judiciary named in the report to also vacate office.

President Kenyatta took the bold step of attaching the confidential report from the CEO of the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission Halake Waqo as part of his annual report on values to Parliament, urging Speakers of both Houses to ensure they were put to good use.

He gave the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko 60 days to ensure the investigations were concluded, in a bid to fight corruption which has been endemic.